True Strength
by Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet
Summary: She knew she couldn't win against the Sharingan, but she knew she couldn't run away either.


This isn't the best, but I've been wanting to see a scene similar to this for a while, so yeah. shrug

The following is slightly AU. Sakura meets Sauske and his team instead of the Naruto clone (Manga chapter 371 spoilers).

-O-

It was the tugging that woke her up. Well, yanked her kicking and screaming back to reality would probably be more accurate. She always considered herself too responsible to drink (being underage and having a mentor that practically lived off of the stuff probably had a lot to do with it too) so she didn't really know, but the way her head pounded had to be something akin to a hangover, or worse...and she did NOT want to wake up.

For a minute, she hung on the edge of unconsciousness, hoping that whatever was tugging at her ankles would stop soon so she could just go back to sleep and forget all this pain. She knew, as a healer, that sleep was usually the best remedy anyway.

It wasn't long before the tugging at her wrists thankfully stopped, leaving her to go back to her blissful darkness. Or, it would have, if the tugging hadn't started again somewhere near the bottom of her legs.

She let out a moan, but the tugging never stopped. So she tried to move her legs away from the pulls, but something (or someone, that was a hand she could feel holding her legs) yanked them firmly back before she'd been able to move them so much as an inch.

How did she end up like this? Maybe it was some sort of "strengthening exercise" Tsunade-sensei had given her. Those kind of exercises always tended to end up like this...with her lying face down in the dirt or on the ground, wishing for a week off from her duties.

But as she thought about it, trying to sort through the haze that had once been her memory, that didn't feel right...not this time. Besides, why would Tsunade ever tie her up? That didn't sound right either. She usually just left Sakura to either get up again, or stay where she was to recover and heal herself until she could regain her feet.

That's when it came back to her. She'd gone with one of Naruto's clones to look for Sauske, just being careful to stay in range of radio transmission. It had been a last minute decision, one that she was actually surprised Kakashi made.

She found it ironic that she was the one to find Sauske and his new...team. She mentally flinched at that thought. The fact that he'd mentioned Sai 'replacing' him at all told her he was a little upset and hurt, even if he wouldn't admit it himself (she doubted he would even admit it _to_ himself), and yet here he'd gone and done the same thing.

She'd split up with the clone a little ways into the search, deciding that covering more area was more useful. Once someone was to find Sauske, they were supposed to radio it in to everyone else, and they'd all center themselves on him and his group.

Truthfully, she never thought that she'd be the one to meet him.

-X-

Sakura focused ahead of her, willing herself to be more aware of her surroundings. Sauske was around here somewhere. They would find him this time! She was sure of it. All of them together could fight him, even with his Sharingan. She hardly paid attention to the leaves around her as she jumped from branch to branch, and yet she took in every detail.

That's when she'd felt it. Chakara ahead, poorly concealed from one person (that couldn't be Sauske, but it could be from his group). Her eyes setting determinedly, she changed her course slightly to head in that direction.

Seconds later, she heard a woman's voice mention something about someone with 'different' chakara ahead, and that's when they'd come into view. Even seeing him at that point caused Sakura to stop short, barely able to take in the scene. Sauske, however, already had a Chidori charged up, and only after she noticed that could she shake herself out of her stupor. She watched as he came straight at her, seemingly in slow motion. She reacted as quickly as she could, sending a chakara charged punch at that glowing hand. He hadn't been expecting that, apparently, because she saw surprise in his red eyes.

Of course he hadn't been expecting it, because (looking back) it had been a pretty dumb idea. Still, even though it practically ruined her hand (she had tried to shake it off afterwards, but had lost all feeling in that hand), and sent a nasty charge through her body, the chakara she released nullified most of the attack, and actually sent him flying backwards.

She'd been nothing short of stupefied at that one. Sauske...shocked...at _her? _She'd had to have seen wrong because the Sauske she remembered was never shocked or surprised...at anything.

It didn't take her long to come out of that one, though. The large, oddly familiar sword swinging at her head brought her rather quickly back to reality. Three different people she'd never seen or met before all came to attack her at once. It took everything she could manage to dodge the attacks, and sent a few punches of her own back, although only one hit the girl in the group, effectively breaking her arm. She yelped in pain, and the other two kept attacking with even more fury, until they all heard that voice.

"STOP!" That calm voice that never yelled. Even now, he'd simply raised it to command over the noise. She looked over at him, unsure of what to think or do, but like the other three, she obeyed, slowly retracting her extended arm, just inches away from the face of the guy with funky teeth and the sword. She couldn't really take back her leg, though, as it had been caught by the other, larger man.

"She's mine. Go on ahead, and give them a distraction." His voice left no room for argument, although the girl with the now broken arm looked livid with anger and worry, the guy with the sword looked down-right ticked, and the third man seemed unsure that this was the right action to take. Despite their misgivings, they all did as they were told.

The guy with the sword jumped over to the girl with the broken arm, and in a flash of movement snapped it back into place, slapping a hand over her mouth to drown out the scream. Then, he nodded to the larger man. "Help me set this and heal it. Now!" He jumped ahead to another branch, not waiting for the reply, although the larger man nodded and grabbed a sturdy branch as he dropped Sakura's leg and leapt over to his friend.

Sakura paid them very little heed, knowing within her that she no longer had anything to fear from any of them. "I hope you won't be needing this, leaf-girl." She turned around as the smaller man spoke again, and to her horror, saw her broken radio in his hand. Normally, she would have said a few colorful words under her breath at least, but in his presence, she found she could not.

"Hurry up and catch up with us, Sauske-kun," the girl said with an overly sweet voice that made Sakura want to cringe and gag at the same time. She knew that's exactly how she'd sounded only three years ago. Now she saw why it had annoyed Sauske so much. She could feel the girl glaring daggers at her back, but again, paid no heed, instead staring at Sauske's feet as he dropped his cloak, apparently preparing for a fight.

She knew what she should do in this situation: As soon as the others left, she needed to run. One on one against Sharingan would never be in her favor (almost a 100 chance that she would lose in any case)...but she knew that she would regret it for the rest of her life if she ran now...now that she could finally face him.

Taking a deep breath and swallowing the lump in her throat, she got back into a ready position. "Uchiha Sauske," she said as calmly as she could, "I hereby place you under arrest by order of the Fifth Hokage."

She figured his reaction to those words would be either a shrug of indifference, a stoic look hiding anger, or a smirk at their "arrogance" for attempting something so stupid. It almost brought a smile to her lips that after this long she could still predict his reactions. He smirked. Only barely could she see the smile, but it was there.

That's when she realized she'd stopped looking at his feet, and immediately returned her gaze. She couldn't afford to don that again.

"You're smarter than you used to be," he said, his voice quiet but full of confidence. "You always were the smartest of the three of us."

She couldn't stand it any longer. "Please," she couldn't keep the quiver from her voice, "please come back without a fight, Sauske-k..san." She could feel him raising an eyebrow at her correction. She knew what he would answer, and prepared herself for it. He would answer like he always did—with his fists.

Suddenly, he was gone, and the fight started. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down and focused on his chakara signature.

There! Behind her! She turned and met his fist with one of her own, doing her best to keep her eyes down on his chest or lower. If she saw his eyes, she knew the fight would be over. His fists came more quickly after that, each aiming for some major pressure point. She hadn't expected that he'd slack off during the time he'd been gone, but somehow (as he always did) this passed her expectations. She found herself incredibly thankful for her own training, as studying the body and each of the muscles let her know where he would attack next. Combined with her own ninja training, she found to her great surprise, that she could keep up with his attacks, and even counter a few, although with his Sharingan, she knew there was no chance of her ever really striking anything.

It was only a matter of time before—No! She told herself in her mind, feeling the old "Inner Sakura" well up inside of her, smacking her metaphorically up the side of the head. 'Don't think like that, stupid! Just keep it up! You can take him!'

She nodded slightly to herself, and continued to block. His left torso muscle moved, she blocked with her right, and used the momentum she'd started to continue moving in that direction. Duck under his block, and come up behind, aiming a punch for his mid-back that would cripple him if she hit. He ducked, using her own arm as a pivot point, whirling around with a kick to the head which she also dodged. The muscles had rippled down the body, tensing as they prepared to swing around, so she knew which side to duck towards, standing up as soon as his leg had passed over her head to land an uppercut to the chin as he completed his whirl around to face her again (which by the way was not easy when she could not look up to follow her own fist). Not surprisingly, he blocked her punch while simultaneously aiming for her throat. She could tell by the angle of attack and again how the muscles tensed. His movements barely gave her a moment to react, but she responded with her own block and tried to use her knee to come up against him.

It went on like that for some time. She didn't know whether she'd been fighting for minutes, or days. All she knew, is that she needed to keep stalling for time until someone realized that her radio had been cut off and came looking for her. That could be anywhere from seconds to minutes, both of which she knew she did not have.

Still, she continued to fight, refusing to back down, her frustration building with every blocked swing, every duck, every near miss from him.

Finally, they broke away, each sliding backwards on the branch, him towards the tree trunk, her towards the tapered end. She continued looking at his feet, refusing to acknowledge her heavy breathing, or the fact that if she continued to build her chakara into her punches, she would end up losing control over what little she could save, barely able to mold it if at all. She could not let that happen.

"It seems you've learned how to battle a Sharingan user," he said in a monotone voice that made her shiver. Yes, Sauske had never exactly been one to show his feelings, but this made him sound more like... She didn't want to think about that. Instead, she readied herself, getting back into her stance, mostly because she didn't trust herself to say anything.

"You're different, you know," he said again after a moment. That caused her to pause and blink. What exactly was he trying to say? "Not many people would have been able to fight me without looking me in the eye, let alone for that long." She blinked again, was he actually trying to _compliment_her? She felt her heart rise a little in her chest, old feelings coming to the surface. Had she finally gotten what her younger heart had wished for?

She pondered that for an instant, before realizing that it didn't feel like she'd thought it would. She'd thought that hearing anything akin to a compliment from her childhood crush would result in...well, something good or happy, but all she felt at this moment was a great sadness well up inside of her. Maybe it was a memorial to what could have been had he stayed, or maybe just a nostalgic sense of her finally letting go of her childhood feelings...and with them her childhood. It could have been either one or both of those, but whatever the reason, at that moment, it hit her—hard--that she was no longer a child. She could not simply have a crush and focus on that. She was a shinobi, and the life that she'd chosen was far from innocent.

"Thank you, Sauske-san," she said softly, "but as you said, I'm not the weak little girl I used to be, and I won't fall for that."

What she heard next actually surprised her. He laughed. Well, chuckled more or less. "You're right," he said, and his feet disappeared again. She focused more closely on his chakara signature, and again stopped his arm before he could break her jaw with his punch. Then his other hand fell towards her, and her eyes widened. He'd taken out his sword.

It was all she could do to duck and roll backwards, a kunai appearing in her hand. The next instant, she blocked the large sword, and ducked underneath, trying to punch him in the chest, and channeling some chakara to her legs to help boost her upwards That's when he moved in such a way, that she couldn't follow. He used his sword's position to his advantage. No longer able to hold the weight he put on it, the long, thin metal slid off of her kunai causing him to drop down...

The last thing she remembered seeing before she'd blacked out were his red, Sharingan eyes.

-X-

There was one final tug, as all of this came rushing back to her.

"Sauske!" she jerked awake and looked down to see her former teammate stand up.

"You should be alright here until that Dobe finds you," he said, his face completely emotionless. For some reason, seeing him call Naruto that, after all this time, as if nothing had happened started to tear down any resistance she'd been able to build up. She let her head drop back down in defeat, laying on her side, unable to focus on the world around her.

He turned away, his cloak already firmly in place, when he stopped for a moment, turning to look at her again over his shoulder. "Next time, don't pull your punches."

She closed her eyes, realizing that he'd see what she had refused to. She hadn't been using full force subconsciously. Looking back, she could see that now. She really had not wanted to hurt him...and she still didn't. She had told Naruto when he'd transformed into that...thing, that he didn't have to go after Sauske for her anymore, that she would be able to herself.

She hadn't backed down, but she knew she could not be strong enough to do what needed to be done. Not yet. Not like him.

"I won't have to," she said softly.

He raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you mean?"

"He'll get to you first..." she replied, vaguely realizing that she was on the verge of madness as the rest of just about everything she'd believed in crumbled. She wanted to break out in laughter, just so she wouldn't cry. A smile formed on her face, and she began to chuckle. "He'll get to you, because he's so strong...he always has been, hasn't he?" She wasn't sure exactly why she said what she was saying now, but she didn't stop. "He's always been the strongest."

Sauske's face darkened at that. "Dead-last? The strongest?"

"He didn't get special treatment, or any _decent_ treatment at all really. He didn't get anyone helping or encouraging or even letting him practice throwing a single kunai. He did it all on his own, and he still never gave up.

"Being on my own would have broken me long ago...and it drove you insane." Her chuckle grew louder, harder to contain.

His eyes darkened even more, but she'd gone far beyond heeding the warning look. "He's not letting anyone control his future. Not a hating village, not a tailed-beast demon, not overprotective parents, and not a crazed-up older brother." She laughed outright at that.

The kunai that suddenly appeared in the ground, buried almost to the hilt not centimeters in front of her eyes managed to shut her up, but not for long.

"Does it really scare you that much?" she said softly. "Letting go?"

"Wouldn't you want to get stronger?" he asked, sounding a lot more like the old Sauske she knew. "Wouldn't you want revenge?"

"Is it that hard?" she asked, half to herself, half to him, seeming to ignore him completely. "A choice between letting go, forgiving and forgetting and only trying to find justice, or becoming stronger solely for vengeance...which one is really harder?"

He didn't respond, and she looked up to see he'd vanished. She wasn't sure if he'd heard her or not, and at the moment, she didn't particularly care. "Naruto," she said softly to herself, "it seems I owe you an apology."

She knew that she would have chosen vengeance too. She'd known the moment he'd asked the question...and that's what made Naruto so different. He wanted to become Hokage and protect the people who had made his life nothing short of a permanent residence in the underworld.

Him protecting the village was like Sauske protecting his brother.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she waited on the forest floor, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry for not seeing that you really are the strongest."


End file.
